"Harren the Black thought this castle would be his legacy. The greatest fortress ever built: the tallest towers, the strongest walls. The Great Hall had thirty-five hearths. Thirty-five, can you imagine? Look at it now...a blasted ruin."

Harrenhal is a huge castle, the largest one in all of Westeros, though it is also the most ill-omened. It is located on the northern shore of the Gods Eye lake at the heart of the Riverlands, south of the River Trident and northwest of King's Landing.

It was built centuries earlier by King Harren the Black. He was betrayed by his bannermen during the War of Conquest and the castle was largely melted by dragonfire: while Harren had thought the castle's walls were tall enough to withstand any assault, he neglected to consider that the Targaryens'dragons could fly right over them. As a result Harrenhal is half-ruined, with stone towers melted and twisted by the flames of the dragons, giving it an ominous and nightmarish appearance. No lord has held the castle for long since Harren's death.

Aegon the Conqueror granted Harrenhal to his bannermen of House Qoherys, which eventually became extinct. They were followed by Houses Towers, Harroway, Strong, and Lothston. All of them, like the Hoares and Qoherys before them, died out, leading to the castle of be considered a cursed place. Several tales are told of Harrenhal, including the tale of Mad Lady Lothston, the flaming ghosts of Harren and his sons, and of servants who go to sleep and are found turned to ashes the following day.[1]

Harrenhal is seen as something of a white elephant: while it is technically the biggest castle in Westeros, it is so ridiculously large that the surrounding area cannot possibly produce the necessary food to support the massive army needed to fully man it. Rulers of Harrenhal usually lose money and resources simply by possessing it. As a result, Harrenhal is rarely if ever fully manned. Moreover, it was never fully repaired after being blasted with dragonfire by the Targaryens three hundred years ago, which combined with the fact that the garrison is never as large as the fortifications require, means that Harrenhal really isn't one of the most defensibly formidable castles in Westeros.[2]

By the time of the War of the Five Kings, Harrenhal was held by House Whent, until they were stripped of it and the castle was given to House Slynt as a reward for Janos Slynt's betrayal of Eddard Stark.[3] However, due to the area being a warzone, Slynt never actually occupied the castle and was stripped of it when Janos Slynt was sent to the Wall. In Season 2, it is used as the main forward base for Tywin Lannister's army in the Riverlands during his campaign against Robb Stark. However, the Lannisters later withdraw their forces to defend King's Landing in the decisive Battle of the Blackwater. At the beginning of Season 3 the abandoned castle is re-captured by the Northern army (in particular, Robb Stark's maternal grandmother was a Whent, so he has some direct claim to the castle), and Robb leaves a detachment of the Northern army under Roose Bolton to hold the castle.

Behind the scenes

Production Designer Gemma Jackson said that in order to develop the look of Harrenhal, she visited Cambodia and the ruins of Angkor Wat to get a feel for how a vast but crumbling castle complex should appear, with many broken walls overgrown with vines and creepers.[13]

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Harrenhal is a colossal castle consisting of five massive towers (the Tower of Dread, the Widow's Tower, the Wailing Tower, the Tower of Ghosts, and the Kingspyre) and immense walls.

The castle was built over 300 years ago by House Hoare, the ruling house of the Iron Islands which had overrun and conquered the Riverlands. It took three generations to construct. King Harren the Black completed the castle, boasting that it was impregnable. Unfortunately, the day he completed the castle was the same day that Aegon the Conqueror invaded Westeros. His dragons were not obstructed by the towering walls and roasted Harren and all his heirs alive in the tallest tower of the castle, now known as the Kingspyre.

Since Harren's death the castle has passed through a number of other noble houses (Qoherys, Towers, Harroway, Strong, and Lothston), each of which has come to ruin for one reason or another. Also, every castellan to command the castle's garrison has come to a horrific end. This has led to the common superstition in Westeros that Harrenhal is cursed. Prior to the War of the Five Kings House Whent, loyal vassals to Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun.

Harrenhal is considered extremely ill-reputed place not only due to the alleged curse: according to Jaime Lannister, Harrenhal had seen more horror in its three hundred years than Casterly Rock had witnessed in three thousand.

After House Lannister takes Harrenhal, most of its household keep on serving the occupiers. However Arya Stark, Jaqen H'ghar, Rorge, and Biter free the Northern prisoners after Lord Tywin and the Mountain leave the castle under the command of Amory Lorch. The Brave Companions seize the chance to turn on Lorch and deliver the castle to Roose Bolton, who was commanding the Northern forces east of the Trident, with whom they had previously made a deal.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Harrenhal" is pronounced "HAIR-in-hall".